One does not have to be a computer expert to know that one needs a mouse for the curser to work. And for the mouse to be more efficient, it does not hurt to have a mouse pad. But enough techno-geek speak. Many feel that a mouse pad is a mouse pad is a mouse pad. YMany users opt not to use one. They use books, pieces of shipping boxes and even paper plates (and wonder why the curser isn't moving very fast) I'm not making fibbing. I know some of them. Others without a computer are certain a mouse pad is a small rental unit for rodents. That part is a joke.

Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in 1963 at Stanford University, coincidentally, the same place in 1974, the father of the Internet, Vinton Cerf invented the protocol later known as The Internet. Engelbart called it "the bug" but it was later named to "the mouse". It was not made to be put on a mat or pad but held in one hand and the user would type on a five-key chord keyset with the other. This system was short-lived. The mouse pad is said to have been invented by Armando M. Fernandez when he worked at Xerox in 1977. He first named the mouse pad with separate words, mouse pad, and later fused the two names into a single word "mousepad". Xerox published his invention in 1979. Not much time pased before many entreprenuers caught wind of the mouse pad and begin seeing promotional possibilities. This form of corporate gift-giving remains popular today.

Mouse pads, if designed properly, can be an ideal corporate gift. The trick to giving the right mouse pad, today, is to think of the end user, the beneficiary of the pad. Rather than the age-old "my company logo on your mouse pad", savvy businesspersons and entrepreneurs are giving "theme-related" mouse pads as gifts, and often humor or cartooning is incorporated. For instance, giving a mouse pad to a doctor? Why not one featuring a medical-related cartoon? To a scientist? A science-theme cartoon makes perfect sense. See the difference? It is what you might call "non-invasive marketing". With so many promotional items on the market today, if one is not going to be creative in the process of giving one, it is best not to waste time and money doing it. But if one takes a few minutes and finds one "that works', it works like nothing else, and very well.

With a funny cartoon on the pad, one that is more about the customer than you, that user not only sees and uses the mouse pad every day, he/she remembers it came from you. It is even better *not* to have your name and/or logo on it. He/she will remember from where it came. It will be uniquely different than other gifts received. If you've never tried it, I highly suggest it. I pick out twenty or thirty for my best clients and send them out regularly. It is not the kind of advertising to attract mass customers, though can be done so with the proper budget, but it is a perfect way to build loyalty and goodwill, and a consumer who is in a good mood every time he/she thinks of you, and laughs at the cartoon on the mouse pad.

Disney and Hanna Barbara, it is thought, put the first cartoon characters onto mouse pads, targeting the children's market. They continue to license the images with great sucess

Cartoonist, entrepreneur, Rick London, creator of Londons Times Cartoons, the offbeat popular Internet cartoon is thought to be the first to put professional-themed cartoons onto high quality mouse pads targeting the corporate business and adult gift-giving market. His themes include everything from dentistry to pro-sports to lawyers to veterinarians. He sells them at his various cartoon gift shops including Just Funny Mouse Pads, which is a very popular Internet place to shop.

People are looking for originality and the more original, the more memorable. The name of the game is to forget "corporate etiquette" when corporate gifts are being sought. Seek originality. People will remember and do business with you.

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Alexa Ferotina is an entrepeneur that uses originality and humor in corporate and personal gift-giving that clients and friends remember. One of her favorites is giving cartoon Hilarious Rick London Mouse Pads. Her favorite Funny Mousepad Site to order is Cartoon Mousepads As Corporate Gifts